


Joe Toye's Lessons in Jealousy

by aces_low



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Mentions of some of the other guys, Pre-Relationship, Stupid mentions of shakespeare because it was the first thing that popped into my head, With Some Dumb Angst Peppered Throughout, mostly fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-08-21 19:02:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8256935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aces_low/pseuds/aces_low
Summary: Joe Toye isn’t a jealous person. He never has been. He has what he has and there’s never any reason to get worked up over what he doesn’t have. Until he meets George Luz.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This idea came from some head canon posts I saw on tumblr. This was written pretty quickly and is unedited, so hopefully not too many unforgivable mistakes!
> 
> This is not meant to be a representation of the real men at all, this is only meant to be a story based off of the characters from the HBO series.

Joe Toye isn’t a jealous person. He never has been. He has what he has and there’s never any reason to get worked up over what he doesn’t have.

 

Until he meets George Luz.

 

George is loud, and obnoxious, and incapable of shutting down. His body always seems to be moving, even when he’s asleep. Joe knows immediately that Luz is going to be an endless source of frustration for him.

 

The first time he experiences the unfamiliar burn of jealousy is before they’re even together.

 

Luz is making friends with a group of strangers at the other end of the bar. This is nothing new, ever since Joe met Luz, the same way these new people are meeting him, he’s known that Luz makes new friends everywhere he goes. He can’t help it, he likes to be the center of attention, and he likes meeting new people. It’s entirely the opposite for Joe, who is fine with sitting in the corner, and sticking with the same old friends he’s had forever (with the exception of Luz, of course).

 

He watches from across the room, amused, as Luz gestures wildly, and makes some truly ridiculous faces, as the whole group laughs and cheers at one of Luz’s many stories. And this makes Joe feel warm, and content.

 

It’s once the conversation has died down a little that he notices one of the guys’ approach Luz, grabbing onto the back of his T-shirt and tugging him back some. Joe sits up a little in response, but Luz doesn’t appear too bothered by the manhandling, so Joe settles.

 

As he watches them talk he can tell the guy is either propositioning Luz or is on his way to it when Joe feels something growing under his skin, slowly snaking its way up through his nerve endings. His whole body feels like it’s simmering, and his chest is tight. He doesn’t know what this is, he’s used to anger, his body vibrating with the need to just hit something. But this is different than anything he’s felt before. His normal desire would be to grab the guy by his throat and throw him against the bar. But right now, he doesn’t feel like approaching them at all. Of course he wants to punch the guy, but more than anything, he kind of just wants to look away, not wanting to know what the smile Luz is sending the other guy might mean.

 

“I’m gonna go smoke,” he tells Guarnere, and doesn’t stop walking until he’s outside. The new spring night not exactly warm, but it’s nice for his overheated skin.

 

He tries to clear his head, rubbing at his chest a little, trying to ease a tightness that he knows is only in his mind. It’s not that he doesn’t know that he has feelings for Luz, and he’s positive Luz returns them. But now, now he’s worried that Luz got tired of waiting for Joe to make a move, or is just more interested in this new guy. The petulant thought of _he’s supposed to be mine_ passes through his head, and he’s glad nobody else can hear it.

 

“Hey.” He startles as Luz comes up to stand beside him, lighting his own cigarette.

 

Joe looks around and behind them, to see if any of Luz’s new friends came along, but it seems to be just the two of them.

 

“Everything alright?” Luz asks after a minute of silence.

 

Joe nods, not needing Luz to know that he’s losing his mind just because he smiled at some other guy.

 

“Right, well…I guess I’ll just go back in then, leave you to it,” Luz says as he finishes his cigarette, having not gotten any response out of Joe.

 

“Are you gonna go home with him?” Joe blurts out, and _Jesus_ , he wonders if he can kick his own ass.

 

“Who?”

 

Joe shrugs. “Guy at the bar?” He thinks about using the excuse of wanting to know if he’ll need to give Luz a ride or not, but he knows it’s not going to come out as anything but the utter bullshit it is.

 

“Well, that depends.”

 

Joe looks at him expectantly; his heart beat faster than it should be.

 

“It _depends_ on whether the guy I actually want to go home with stops being a jealous mope and just makes a fucking move.”

 

“I’m not…” Joe starts to argue. _Jealous_ , so that’s what he’s been feeling. He’s annoyed at himself, both that he even felt jealousy in the first place and also that he didn’t realize that’s what it was.

 

“Come _on_ , Joe, it’s not like I’ve been subtle.”

 

And no, Luz isn’t subtle, about anything. And he’s definitely not been subtle in his flirting with Joe. Luz texts him constantly, he compliments him all the time, he does almost everything short of saying ‘I like you, Joe.’

 

Joe doesn’t know what he’s been waiting for really, maybe he thought it would just kind of happen naturally and they’d never have to talk about it. But now there’s this jealousy thing to deal with, and he definitely doesn’t want Luz to go home with some guy just because he’s too chicken shit to admit his feelings back.

 

“Ok, I don’t want you to go home with that guy.” He says, walking closer to Luz.

 

“Because…” Luz prompts.

 

Joe grabs the front of Luz’s shirt, bringing him in so their chests are touching.

 

“Because…I want you to come home with me.” Luz smiles, his eyes crinkling from the force of it.

 

“Because…” He prompts again, moving his arms to wrap around Joe’s neck.

 

Joe huffs. “Because I…like you.”

 

“Jesus Christ, Joe. Was that so fucking ha-“

 

Luz’s rant is cut off by Joe bringing their lips together. Luz smiles against his mouth and pulls him closer.

 

 

Now that they’re officially together, shit like that doesn’t bother Joe anymore. Luz is a flirt, and loves to talk to anyone who is willing. So now, when he sees a guy talking to his boyfriend with a spark of hope in their eyes, he doesn’t feel jealous, he feels a little bit sorry for the guy, and maybe a little smug. Ok, he feels very smug. But he gets to have George in his bed every night, he should be smug.

 

Now, he will kick someone’s ass if they touch Luz without him wanting them to. There must just be something about Luz that gives people the desire to manhandle him, and Joe is by far the worst offender. Sometimes he’ll just drag him around by his collar like a doll, and he might feel bad about it if he didn’t suspect that Luz secretly loved it. But it’s one thing when Joe does it, it’s an entirely different thing when someone he’s never met decides to grab on to him and be a little bit too rough. Usually, Luz will just extract himself from the guys hold and make his way back to Joe, but there have been times when he’s found Joe’s eyes through the crowd silently asking for his help.

 

Joe has no problem kicking the shit out of some guy who is hurting and or scaring his boyfriend. But that’s him being protective, which he is, and maybe a little possessive, which yeah ok he really is. It’s not jealousy though, because there’s no doubt in his mind that Luz has no plans to leave with anyone but him. So, he doesn’t get jealous about shit like that anymore.

 

He thinks that his experience with jealousy is just a one-time thing. But, Joe is finding out that jealousy is a strange and problematic emotion, that can surface at unexpected times.

 

Such as, when they meet Skip Muck.

 

Malarkey introduces Luz and Joe to his friend Skip during a cookout that Lipton and Spiers are throwing. The three of them talk for a while, and Skip seems like a good guy. Joe leaves him and Luz talking as he goes to get them all drinks.

 

When he’s walking back toward them though, he sees Luz throw his head back in laughter. One of his truly genuine laughs that only Joe and a small number of their friends have ever seen maybe a handful of times. Because Luz has a lot of laughs, some reserved just for his own jokes, some when he’s not actually amused or laughing at someone else’s expense, and others when he’s laughing at something someone else has done or said. But this one, where Luz’s whole body seems to be thrown into it, is his laugh for when someone sincerely delights him. And he’s known this Skip guy for less than an hour.

 

Joe feels that burning under his skin again, his chest tightening up. He sets the drinks in his hands down and walks over toward the side of the house, ignoring Buck and Guarnere calling after him, thanking him for the beers. He leans up against the side of the house, taking deep breaths, trying to ease the tension in his chest.

 

At least this time he understands that he’s jealous, only he doesn’t really get why. It’s not like he’s the funniest person among their friends, it’s not as if he’s ever been the only one to make Luz laugh like that. It’s just got him thinking, what if Luz wants someone who is more open? Someone who makes jokes that he loves, someone who will talk to all the new friends he makes every week, instead of hiding in a corner glaring at anyone who looks like they want to come near him.

 

He takes another deep breath. Because he knows he’s being ridiculous. He doesn’t even need to have Luz point it out this time. Luz has told him countless of times that he doesn’t mind that Joe isn’t very sociable. He’s even said that he would hate having to deal with someone just like him all the time, that he likes that Joe is much more reserved and quiet.

 

He’s about to return back to the cookout now that his pity party has run its course when he sees a pretty girl walking up the driveway toward him.

 

“Hi, uh this may sound weird, is there a guy named Skip back there?”

 

“Skip Muck?”

 

She looks relieved. “Oh good, he transposed the address in his text to me and he’s not answering his phone. I’m Faye, Skip’s fiancé.” She sticks out her hand to shake.

 

Joe actually grins at that and shakes her hand. “Oh, that’s because _my_ other half is talking his ear off. Come on, I’ll take you to him. I’m Joe, by the way.”

 

She smiles and they walk around back. He gets a few questioning glances from some of the guys, and sees Malarkey wave to Faye from where he’s talking to Spiers by the grill.

 

As they walk up to their respective partners Skip stops talking and beams. “Ah, there she is! George, I’d like you to meet Faye, Faye this is George Luz.”

 

Luz grins and takes Faye’s hand, his grin turning into a leer. “Ah, the sweet Faye Tanner, I’ve heard _so_ much about you.” Instead of shaking it, he pulls her arm up so that he can kiss her hand, and Joe just has to roll his eyes at that. But Faye giggles so it’s had its intended effect.

 

“And where were you? And where are our drinks?” Luz asks, turning to Joe once he’s let go of Faye’s hand.

 

“Well, I ran into Faye here, figured she was a good enough excuse instead of saying I forgot?”

 

“Of course she is!” Skip says, then continues on talking about something, but Joe isn’t really listening because Luz has his eyes trained on him, like he’s trying to read the truth off of his face.

 

Joe puts his arm around Luz’s shoulder, trying to wordlessly convey that he is fine. After a moment Luz learns into the embrace and goes back to talking and joking with Skip.

 

 

So Skip and Faye become just another couple of friends in Luz’s endless supply. And Skip continues to tell jokes and stories that delight Luz enough for Joe to hear his big laugh. But now, it just makes him feel happy, instead of jealous.

 

Now, there are some days that he’s got less patience with people who try to hit on Luz, or try to make him smile or laugh. Some days he just wants to keep him home, wrapped up in his arms, where he can pretend that they’re the only two people in the world. Luz doesn’t really mind when Joe gets like this, probably because he knows Joe would never ask him to be this way all the time. Luz just really loves people, and even more than that, people just really love Luz (as they should), taking him away from that forever would be cruel. But Luz indulges him enough that it all works out.

 

Luz is pressed up against his side, his leg resting in between both of Joe’s, his arm flung over Joe’s torso, drawing patterns on his right shoulder. His mouth is nearly pressed against Joe’s throat, the air puffing out against the sensitive skin as he talks.

 

Joe has stopped listening by this point, knowing that Luz is just talking to talk, telling some story about a conversation he’d had with Web and Lip the other day. Joe is content to just lay there, running his fingertips down Luz’s back as his voice becomes an almost white noise for him.

 

So he’s startled when Luz smacks a hand against Joe’s chest and sits up a little. “Shit, what is her name?”

 

“Who’s?”

 

“Othello’s wife, we were just talking about it the other day and now I can’t think of her fucking name.” He squints, like the memory is hidden beneath his eyelashes.

 

Luz is sitting up completely and looks like he’s physically hurting trying to remember the name.

 

“Ugh! Help me out, Joe! It’s not Portia, that’s Merchant. It’s not Ophelia. I cannot believe I can’t think of this.”

 

Joe sits up now too, a little uncomfortable with Luz looking at him like he should know the answer.

 

“I don’t know,” he admits.

 

“Does it start with a D? Does that sound right to you?”

 

“I don’t know,” he says again.

 

“With our brain power together we can remember this.”

 

“No, I don’t know her name. I never read Othello.”

 

“What? That’s like high school stuff.” Luz still looks mostly lost in thought.

 

“I said I didn’t fucking read it.” Joe gets off the bed, stomping over to the bathroom and closing the door a little harder than is probably necessary.

 

He hears Luz call his name, but he turns the shower on to muffle out the noise. Because that terrible feeling of jealousy is rearing its head again, only this time he’s not just jealous because of Luz, he’s also jealous of him.

 

Because Joe grew up in a pretty poor neighborhood, attended barely funded schools, and spent most of his time in them in trouble for fighting or talking back to a teacher. He definitely didn’t move on to college after barely graduating high school, and anything he may have learned there was definitely not on par to whatever Luz learned, or god forbid try to compare his schooling to someone like David Webster.

 

He’s only become self-conscious about this part of himself as he’s grown up. He sometimes wishes he could go back in time and try it over, though he doesn’t know if it’d do any good anyway.

 

Luz is the only one he’s told about this particular insecurity, and he’s assured him that being smart and being educated are not always the same thing. He generally believes Luz when he tells him that he doesn’t think he’s stupid, but there are times like this, where he can’t even be a part of a meaningless conversation because he’s read almost none of the books that his friends like to reference. He doesn’t know about the same types of things that they learned in school.  

 

It’s just another one of those things, the wonder of whether Luz would rather have someone who is smarter, or more educated, who feels comfortable talking to all different kinds of people, who is able to have intelligent conversations with the strangers they meet, not someone whose main skill is his ability to talk with his fists.

 

But he knows it’s not true. Despite the jealousy taking over his brain, turning his insecurities into terrible images in his head, he _knows_ it’s not true. Because even though Joe may not be the friendliest, or most personable or funny or educated person that Luz knows he loves him anyway. And that’s never been something that Joe has ever had to doubt. So he knows he owes him an apology, for, once again, letting his jealousy get the better of him.

 

He turns off the shower, toweling off once he gets out, leaving the towel cinched around his hips. When he opens the door to the bedroom he sees Luz sitting cross-legged at the edge of their bed, in boxers and one of Joe’s T-shirts.

 

“Did you Google it?” Joe asks when he sees Luz’s phone next to him.

 

Luz looks warily up at him.

 

“What is it?”

 

“Joe.”

 

“What’s her name?”

 

“Desdemona.” Luz sounds tired.

 

“Well, you were right,” Joe says, walking closer to the bed until he’s standing right in front of where George is seated. “It does start with a D.”

 

George snorts out a laugh, but it’s not humorous. He has to strain his neck to look up at Joe’s face. He looks like a dog that’s just been scolded and Joe hates that look on him.

 

“I’m sorry,” he says, running his hand through George’s hair.

 

But George startles at that and moves so he is kneeling on the bed, making them meet eye to eye.

 

“No, I’m sorry.”

 

“I’m an asshole,” Joe admits, putting his hands on either side of George’s neck, his thumbs brushing his jaw.

 

George shakes his head. “ _No_ , I’m an asshole. This is supposed to be my apology, Joe. Let me apologize to you, and you don’t talk shit about my boyfriend.”

 

“Only if you never call my boyfriend an asshole again.”

 

Luz grins, “I don’t know, he deserves it sometimes.”

 

“Hey,” Joe moves Luz’s face so he’s looking him in the eye, “you didn’t do anything wrong, ok? I over-reacted. You were just…trying to have a conversation and it hit one of my insecurities and I got angry instead of talking to you. I don’t want to do that.”

 

Luz reaches up one of his hands to hold onto Joe’s. “I know, but I also know about that insecurity and should have taken two seconds to think about what I was saying. So I’m sorry, I don’t ever want to make you feel bad about yourself. Because I love you, my job is to make you feel good about yourself.”

 

Joe lets go of Luz’s face and trails his hands down his sides, lifting the shirt up to rest his hands against his skin. “I know you do, and that’s what keeps me from staying…jealous, but sometimes it just takes over for a while.”

 

Luz grins, leaning in to place a small kiss to his top lip. “You are so ridiculous. You act like jealousy is this secret thing that only you go through.”

 

Joe frowns at that, his thumbs idly stroking at Luz’s sides. “You don’t get jealous.”

 

Luz laughs. “Oh my god, Joe, I get jealous every day! I’m jealous of every person who gets to interact with you when I’m not around. I’m jealous of every person that interacts with you when I _am_ around. I get jealous of all the good looking girls and guys who hit on you, hell I get jealous of them when they just look at you.”

 

There are a lot of things that he wants to say and ask about, but the most important thing is, “I don’t want you to feel like that.”

 

Luz smiles and kisses him again, this time Joe has enough time to kiss him back. “I know you don’t. But it’s kind of human nature? Look, I know that you love me, that’s why I don’t drive myself crazy with it every day when it comes up.”

 

“That’s how I keep it together too, knowing you love me.”

 

Luz smiles and pulls him in again for a kiss. Joe feels Luz’s hands trail down his back and then the feeling of his towel pool around his feet. “Oops,” Luz says against his lips, not even attempting to sound innocent.

 

Joe grins, pulling the T-shirt over Luz’s head and pushes him back farther onto the bed, following right along with him.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! This was just a small thing I was trying out. I haven't written and shared anything in several years, so just posting it is a really big deal for me. But feedback is always welcome.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
